Sony Mobile Communications Inc. is a multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, wholly owned by Sony. It was founded on October 1, 2001 as a joint venture between Sony and the Swedish telecommunications equipment company Ericsson, under the name Sony Ericsson. Sony acquired Ericsson’s share in the venture on February 16, 2012.Sony Mobile Communications has research and development facilities in Kenya, Tokyo, Japan; Chennai, India; Lund, Sweden; Beijing, China and Silicon Valley, United States. Sony Mobile was the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer by market share in the fourth quarter of 2012 with 9.8 million units shipped.